A brief-yet-ongoing journal of all things Carmi. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll reach for your mouse to click back to Google. But you'll be intrigued. And you'll feel compelled to return following your next bowl of oatmeal. With brown sugar. And milk.

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Monday, September 04, 2006

Icarus?

We all know what happened to the ancient dude who attached wings to his arms with wax, only to have them melt off when he flew too close to the sun. It remains an important lesson about the importance of planning and the dangers of over-ambition. Or something like that.

I'll quietly sidestep the physics of temperature and altitude and all the other scientific explanations that render this slice of mythology about as believable as cold fusion. But when this bird flew overhead while we sat on a quiet lakefront beach, I was glad my lens was already pointing in the appropriate direction.

Oh, and when they tell you to never shoot into the sun, ignore them. Some photographic rules are made to be broken. Repeatedly.

Your turn: What words come to mind as you first see this picture (don't think it over...just write whatever words pop into your head.) Moreover, how does an image like this make you feel?

(I know, it's an odd pair of questions. I'm still toying with both the logic and the emotion of photography. Thanks for humoring me.)

34 comments:

Freedom. That's the first thing that comes to mind. The feeling is of escaping worries and responsibilities for the half second it takes me to realize that this is just a picture, not me flying away. Is that lame? Oh well. Here from Michele's

Ok, a little off the beaten path, but when Nickelodian goes off at night there is a shot that shows up on the screen for about 30 minutes so all parents know that the Nick broadcast has ended for the day. This reminds me of that photo! Nice shot and thanks for leaving a link! I had already seen the CBS piece so I'm honored you dropped by!

funny you should mention about shooting the sun... i have a few that i tried over and over... since i really couldnt look, i just kept pointing the camera and taking the shot. i might post them on my blog today too!

No words, Carmi. Just a feeling of freedom. The closest to a word I got was "ahhhhhh". There's also a sense of coolness, of gliding through the air but that stuff came after the frontal lobes kicked in and don't really count as first impressions.

Soar... That was the first word that came to mind..I could write a novel of all of things that came to mind, so I'll just say thank you again, Carmi, for sharing the beauty that you capture with your camera..

Back again, via Michele, Carmi. I have had a "lost" Monday here, trying to rest up from the heavy work I had last week. I wish I felt as light as that bird and could take off at will to wherever my nose took me.

Wile blue freedom! I can't help but think that I saw this exact scene up at the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday and my camera ran out of battery power just as I was about to shoot! Michele my belle sent me.

Oh, and that story about Icarus - it wasn't altogether about ambition. Icarus' father made the wings for himself and his son so they could escape from being imprisoned.The story for me resonates with all sorts of dilemmas that come with being a parent.